Game Summary

For the second time this season, the New Jersey Devils came up short when visiting Sunrise, Florida despite coming back from a multi-goal lead. Last night, the Devils suffered their third overtime loss of the season and their second against the Florida Panthers in a 4-3 outcome. Vincent Trocheck scored the winner for the Cats with 43 seconds left after the Devils clawed back from a 3-1 deficit by scoring two unanswered goals in the third period. Aaron Ekblad opened the scoring almost 13 minutes into the first period for his second of the year. The Devils and Panthers traded goals during the second when Denin Malgin netted his second of the year, after which Travis Zajac notched his fourth of the season with two minutes remaining in the period.

The Panthers took an early two-goal lead in the third when Vincent Trocheck scored his first goal of the game 4:29 into the period, only for PA Parenteau to answer back for the Devils 20 seconds later. Rookie center Pavel Zacha scored his first goal of year on a laser wrister from a perfectly-executed pass from Beau Bennett with about four minutes left in the third. After some back and forth play and some close calls for both teams, Trocheck scored off his own rebound in overtime with 43 seconds left on an offensive rush to seal the deal and give the Cats their second win in three games.

 

Takeaways

Shots and face-offs…It’s a part of this team’s game that they struggled mightily with last season (as I’ve emphasized multiple times before), where they’ve slowly shown improvement in. While their consistency hasn’t been steady in terms of shooting, the Devils successfully outshot the Panthers 34-31 and were rewarded with three goals as a result. The Devils also went 50% in the face-off dot with centers Vernon Fiddler, Travis Zajac, and Adam Henrique respectively going 54, 63, and 50%.

Special teams…This is what ultimately sealed New Jersey’s fate. While the Devils played a more disciplined game, the Panthers cashed in on two out of their three power play opportunities. The Devils on the other hand, had five power plays, and only capitalized once. Coach Hynes may have asked too much of his top players with Pavel Zacha (3:40), Adam Henrique, Mike Cammalleri, PA Parenteau (3:39 each), and Taylor Hall (3:37) essentially played the bulk of their power play time, which the Panthers took advantage of. While these are Coach Hynes’ best options for the man-advantage, he should have taken a hint and mixed things up a little more.

Zacha and Lappin…Despite the outcome, it proved to be another productive night for rookie forwards Pavel Zacha and Nick Lappin. Zacha scored his first career goal and tied the game with four minutes to go in regulation. The 19-year old center now has one goal and four points in nine games, and has been a key asset in the Devils top-six and special team units. For right wing Nick Lappin, this was his third game since being called up and despite logging fourth line minutes, it was another step forward for the 24-year old. Lappin notched an assist, and has two points (all assists) in the three games since he was called up. After playing only 7:10 in his season debut, his ice time slowly increased. He played 10:11 in last Saturday’s win against Tampa Bay, and a season-high 11:35 in last night’s overtime loss.

Severson’s strong start…With two assists last night, Damon Severson’s point totals came up to one goal and eight points in nine games. Last night was Severson’s third multi-point game of the season, and his sixth point in four games. The third-year defenseman has stepped up significantly since filling in the top-pairing spot on the Devils defense with Andy Greene. While it’s unlikely this will last, Severson currently leads the Devils in scoring and has been a huge proponent of the recent offensive surge the Devils have endured in the past four games.